Fancy Crane
Encyclopedia
Fancy Lopez-Fitzgerald (née
Crane) is a fictional character
on the NBC
/DirecTV
soap opera
Passions
and is portrayed by actress Emily Harper
from the May 13, 2005 episode through the series finale. Following her debut, Fancy quickly becomes one of the soap's lead heroines — Harper appears in 209 out of the 254 episodes that aired in 2006, a feat surpassed only by Lindsay Hartley
(Theresa
).
Introduced in the May 13, 2005 episode alongside fellow Harmonyite
Noah Bennett
in Las Vegas
, Fancy is quickly characterized as a vain, spoiled celebutante comparable to Paris Hilton
and is soon revealed to be one of the frequently mentioned but heretofore unseen daughters of Julian
and Ivy Crane
; she is also established to be the favorite granddaughter of billionaire supervillain
Alistair Crane
and is later revealed to be the sole heiress to his empire
. Fancy's first year of storylines is dominated by her off-and-on relationship with Noah and the conflict that it creates between herself and Alistair. With the middle-class
Noah, Fancy begins her transformation from a spoiled princess into a caring, responsible young woman, but their relationship is eventually torn apart by Noah's lies and Alistair's machinations.
Nursing her heartbreak in Rome, Fancy befriends her aunt's ex-fiancé, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald
, and joins him in his search for his son, and Fancy's cousin, Marty, furthering her process of maturation. Luis and Fancy eventually fall in love and become one of the program's central couples, bitterly dividing fans of the couple and those who prefer Luis with Sheridan
and/or Fancy with Noah. Nonetheless, Fancy's storylines since mid-2006 center on her romance with Luis and subsequent rivalry with her aunt, Sheridan, and sister, Pretty
, for his affection. Despite numerous obstacles, Luis and Fancy are married in the July 23, 2008, episode, and Fancy announces her pregnancy in the series finale.
and the daughter of the late former Governor Harrison Winthrop and his wife, the late Helen Winthrop (née Revere-Mott-Beaton). Fancy is the scion of numerous wealthy, prominent families that immigrated to North America
before the American Revolutionary War
— her paternal grandfather is a descendant of William Ephraim Crane, a magistrate who ordered Tabitha Lenox
's execution in 1693, sparking Tabitha's vendetta against the Crane family, and her maternal grandmother was a descendant of Paul Revere
. Fancy is largely of English
descent, with some French
ancestry, and was brought up, to some degree, as a Roman Catholic
.
Fancy was raised as the second of four children — Ethan Crane
(later Winthrop), who was revealed to be her maternal half-brother in 2001, is about five years her senior, while Fox Crane
and Pretty Crane are a few years her junior. While they were raised in the lap of luxury, the Crane siblings, excluding Ethan, had a dysfunctional childhood, with Ivy admitting that her youngest three children had a father who was "either absent or intoxicated" and a mother "who just didn't care". Ivy favored Ethan over her other children because he was the son of her "true love", Sam Bennett, and not her husband, whom she loathed, and Fancy, as well as her younger siblings, came to resent their mother for this. Though younger brother Fox is equally angry with Julian, Fancy never expresses the same sort of bitterness against her father, whom she remembers taking her and best friend Esme Vanderheusen
out for ice cream when they were in the third grade
.
Despite being virtually ignored by her parents during her formative years, Fancy did fare better than her younger siblings; since her birth, Fancy has been her grandfather Alistair's favorite relative — Alistair believes her to be the only "true Crane" of all of his descendants. For some twenty-five years, Alistair was consistently the only person upon whom Fancy could depend for love and support, and he, in many ways, was more of a father to her than Julian — when she was seven, it was Alistair, and not Julian and Ivy, whom she begged for the wild, untamed Arabian stallion
she wanted so badly. Alistair was very protective of his firstborn granddaughter — not even Albert II, Prince of Monaco
would have made a suitable husband for his little girl — and he shielded her from his malevolent, vindictive side, which the rest of their family knew to be his true nature. Fancy actually unwittingly brought Alistair's wrath down on others several times, including one time as a child when a boy at the playground hurt her feelings; Fancy later cried to her grandfather about the boy's taunts, and Alistair, in turn, saw that the boy's parents lost their jobs, forcing the couple to leave Harmony with their son.
Alistair's doting was never able to fully satiate Fancy's need to feel wanted and loved by her parents, however. When Fancy was about ten, Julian and Ivy forgot to send for their daughter at Christmastime, leaving her all alone at boarding school. Already secure in her status as a Crane, Fancy called a limo to take her to the mansion in Harmony, but was deeply crushed to find that her parents and siblings had left town for the holidays without her. Fancy's eventual savior was this time Ethan, who arrived with a large bag of presents for his younger sister; even as an adult, Fancy remains close to her elder brother.
As a teenager, Fancy was wild and rebellious; her thirteenth birthday party was canceled five minutes before its designated start time after she and her sister stole the caterer's van and drove it halfway to neighboring Castleton. She was also pulled over by future police chief Sam Bennett at least once for driving over the speed limit
and without a license
after she took her parents' Ferrari
for a joyride
at age fourteen. The majority of Fancy's most serious infractions occurred while with Esme Vanderheusen, who became her best friend when they met in boarding school
. Despite the fact that they were both wild and wealthy, Esme insists that Fancy never engaged in recreational drug use
. Partying and rebellion did not fulfill Fancy, however, and she frequently wished for a more "normal" life; Fancy's favorite book as an adolescent was Dreams of a Varsity Cheerleader, and she longed to trade her life at her all-girls boarding school for the heroine's coeducation
al public high school.
Both Fancy's childhood and teenage years were marked by a sometimes competitive relationship with her younger sister, Pretty. The girls' aunt Sheridan offers an anecdote in January 2007 in which she accuses Fancy of stealing Pretty's date one Labor Day
by pretending to sprain her ankle on the family's yacht
. According to her account, Fancy, not Pretty, ended up dating the country-club
boy, then broke up with him after a week once she was satisfied that she had beaten her sister; Fancy, however, vehemently denies that the situation occurred as her aunt outlines. Sometime after this incident, Fancy and Pretty were involved in a physical altercation with one another — Pretty claims that Fancy was jealous of her relationship with a boy named Harrison, while Fancy maintains that Pretty had been choking her — in which Fancy poured cyanuric acid
on the right side of her sister's face. Though Fancy claims that she acted in self-defense and was unaware of the bottle's contents, the chemicals nonetheless apparently left the side of Pretty's face heavily scarred, and Pretty has never forgiven her sister, maintaining her belief that Fancy acted to prevent another man from ever preferring Pretty over herself.
Sometime before July 1999, Fancy departed Harmony for a prestigious school, either boarding or a university
, and did not return until June 2005. Fancy did eventually make it to college, but, according to Ivy, she has yet to complete her degree
. It was originally said in 2005 that Fancy later made her way to Italy
with her sister sometime in 2004 or 2005, with the two parting ways after Pretty fell in love with an Italian nobleman, although the revelation of Fancy and Pretty's feud in 2007 seems to have created a retcon.
and operating under the alias
of Ned. Noah rejects Fancy's advances, however, mistaking her for a prostitute and infuriating the heiress. Noah and Fancy meet again later that night when she seeks solace in what she believes to be an unfinished room from an attempted rapist. Shortly thereafter, the hotel staff discover that Noah has been squatting
and attempt to apprehend the pair. In one room, the two find a suitcase full of money — and the corpse of Fancy's attempted rapist. Spooked, the two give the money to two nuns and leave Vegas for home — unaware that both call the New England
town of Harmony home.
Back in Harmony, Fancy discovers Noah's true identity, and vice versa, and she complains to Alistair about her Vegas companion; Alistair, furious at his granddaughter's treatment at Noah's hands, declares war on the Bennett family
by having Sam Bennett fired from his position as chief of police. Noah is furious with Fancy, but protects her from the Las Vegas mobsters and saves her during the summer 2005 Harmony tsunami
. During the disaster storyline, the two are thrown together in a fight for survival once more, and actress Emily Harper notes that it is during this experience that "Fancy finally admits to herself her true feelings about Noah". This progress is dashed, however, when Fancy finds a letter from Noah's ex-girlfriend, Maya Chinn, in Noah's wallet. In the letter, Maya reminds Noah that he'd claimed that he'd never love another girl like he'd loved her, leaving Fancy devastated. When Noah leaves town to protect his family from his Las Vegas enemies, unaware that Alistair has taken care of the men, Fancy reluctantly obeys her mother's wishes and chases after him, and the two reconnect.
Noah and Fancy are about to consummate their relationship at Sheridan's cottage when Alistair arrives. Unaware that Noah is hiding in the other room, he lectures his granddaughter, warning her to stay away from "commoners" like Noah Bennett. Fancy placates her grandfather, but Noah believes that her hurtful words are truthful and angrily leaves. Later that night, he informs Fancy that they are over. After a date with Edmund Sinclair, both one of Noah's friends from elementary
and middle school
and the grandson of one of Alistair's business associates, Noah and Fancy overcome their misunderstandings and have sex
on the beach. Unbeknownst to the couple, Alistair is watching them from the bushes; in retaliation, he plants drugs
and a gun in Noah's car, resulting in Noah's arrest. Fancy briefly breaks up with Noah, hoping to save him from her grandfather's wrath, but both eventually decide to find strength in their love.
Upon learning that Alistair has removed her from his will
following his marriage to Theresa and adoption of Little Ethan, Fancy is devastated. Though she is sure that a future with Noah is more important than the Crane billions, Fancy has difficulty adjusting to the idea of being "poor" and having to work for a living. Fancy exploits her position as Alistair's favorite to have him offer Noah a position at Crane Industries, but Noah is furious that Fancy would suggest such a thing, and they break up again.
Fancy begins to work at Crane Industries as head of the style division, but not even work can distract her from missing Noah. When her best friend, Esme Vanderheusen, visits Harmony and sets her sights on Noah, Fancy becomes so jealous that she tricks Esme into leaving town and reunites with Noah. Still, the couple is unable to find happiness when Fancy begins to suspect Noah of infidelity
. Fancy follows her lover one December evening and finds him and Theresa at one of the Crane cabins with her and Noah's mutual comatose half-brother, Ethan, who is to be removed from life support
. Furious with Noah's actions, which defy Ethan's own wishes, Fancy breaks up with Noah once more. Remembering a Christmas past, however, when only Ethan had remembered her forgotten at boarding school, Fancy decides to refrain from calling the police until after Christmas. The police find Ethan, though, and Fancy, Theresa, and Noah are all arrested. Alistair bails his wife and granddaughter out of jail, and Fancy, having forgiven Noah, arranges for them to spend Christmas Eve together at the jail.
of Fancy's right eye, as well as lacerate the cornea
. With the amount of glass embedded into the back of her eye, doctors are unsure if it can be saved. Fancy is terrified, but feels even more strongly that she needs to know about Noah and Maya's past, as the organization threatening Noah and Maya is undoubtedly behind the diner incident. Noah refuses to tell Fancy, fearing for her safety, and Fancy maintains that their relationship is over.
After talking with Katherine and Rachel, however, Fancy decides to accept Noah's lies and take him back. Their reunion is short-lived, though, for Fancy soon finds Noah in bed with Maya. Noah, who, along with Maya, has been arrested by the FBI
on charges of terrorism
, makes a deal to pretend to be dating Maya and garner information from the terrorist organization for the FBI. As a result, Noah tells Fancy that she was only a conquest to him, and Fancy, broken-hearted, ends their relationship.
With a clean bill of health in regards to her eye, Fancy leaves Harmony for Rome
, a city that she hopes will inspire her to design more clothes. In Rome, Fancy finds that Esme and the notorious gigolo
Gianni Valentino are staying at her hotel — as are Noah and Maya, who are there to double-cross Lena and her terrorist organization. Fancy briefly dates Gianni to make Noah jealous, but when, at a club, Noah sincerely swears his undying love for her, Fancy takes Noah back. The two sleep together again, but when she wakes up, Noah has gone back to the club, where he is making out with Maya. Fancy swears Noah off once and for all; though Noah eventually tells Fancy that he was only pretending to be involved with Maya as part of an FBI sting to bring down Lena, Maya and Lena have both been killed and his sister, Jessica, is uncooperative, leaving Noah without any proof of his story. Having been lied to once too many times, Fancy refuses to believe her ex, though Noah accuses her of not wanting to reunite because she is falling in love with Luis.
in the catacombs
screaming. Beneath the city, Noah and Fancy find Luis and Chad Harris, who have been buried beneath the rubble of a cave-in. Luis, mistakenly believing that Fancy is her aunt Sheridan, kisses her, and later carries his almost-niece out of the catacombs after a falling rock strikes her in the head. It is during this event that Fancy first develops a crush on Luis, though both remain oblivious to her true feelings and become good friends. As Harper notes, "[Luis] and Fancy are the walking wounded. They have two totally different stories, but they find common ground and connect".
Luis, fearing that Fancy might be the "[person] from Harmony who will die in Rome", decides to become Fancy's bodyguard
, a difficult task. Fancy unknowingly ends up becoming friends with none other than her deranged half-aunt, Beth Wallace
, who erroneously believes that Luis and Fancy are lovers. Beth tries to kill Fancy both in Roman ruins and in her hotel room by locking Luis in the bathroom and smothering Fancy with a pillow, but ultimately fails at both attempts. Fancy, fearful that Beth might return, has Luis platonically share her bed for protection; Noah walks in on the two and believes that they have had sex. Noah tells Fancy that she disgusts him, and Luis comforts Fancy as she cries. After her attack, Fancy becomes determined to help Luis find his son, Marty, whom Beth has kidnapped. Fancy uses Beth's determination to commit murder to lure her to an art gallery, but Beth escapes into a cab with Marty. Luis and Fancy chase the cab via motorcycle, but the cab crashes and bursts into flames, apparently killing Beth and Marty.
When Sheridan calls with the news that Alistair is no longer in a coma and is more than likely in Rome, Luis sets out to murder Alistair, blaming him for Marty's death; Fancy follows. They, along with Noah and Chad, find Alistair in the basement of a church possessing the omega
symbol, where he is attempting to heat the chalice in the fire and thus become omnipotent
. The four stop him, but he triggers a cave-in and escapes. Luis and Fancy find him in an exact replica of his Harmony study in the catacombs, where he is accompanied by a very-much-alive Beth. Luis and Fancy attempt to take the two to the police and force them to reveal Marty's whereabouts, but Alistair and Beth again escape, retrieving Marty and fleeing to some Roman ruins. There, Alistair unleashes lions on the two, forcing Fancy to realize just how evil her grandfather truly is, and when Luis has to stop to save Fancy, the trio escape. Demented Beth, however, is determined to still be with Luis and calls him, allowing Interpol
to track the signal to a train preparing to leave the city. Luis, Fancy, and Noah take an Interpol helicopter to chase after Marty, but a mysterious drone
plane destroys a bridge, causing the train to plummet into a ravine and killing Alistair, Beth, and Marty. Devastated, Luis, Fancy, and the rest of those involved in the vendetta storyline return to Harmony.
.
While playing with her young cousin, James, Fancy realizes that the boy saw the man
who had murdered one of the Cranes' maids, Phyllis. Fancy chases after Spike without calling for back-up, and he renders her unconscious in an abandoned mineshaft, blindfolds her, and attempts to rape
her. Chris discovers what Spike is attempting and stops him, but Fancy escapes and flees, eventually falling through some rotten floorboards and landing, unconscious, on a platform many feet down. Chris and Spike both believe Fancy to be dead and leave her body in the shaft. Luis, meanwhile, searches frantically for his would-be girlfriend, causing Sheridan to become stricken with jealousy. She fixes Luis some tea and puts a sleeping pill in it, despite the fact that such an act risks her own niece's life. However, in their unconscious states, Luis and Fancy's souls are able to connect; when Luis wakes, he finds dirt and blood on his jacket that were not there before he fell asleep. With the dirt and blood, Luis, Sheridan, and Paloma
are able to find the mineshaft. While attempting to rescue Fancy, she and Luis plummet to the bottom of the mineshaft; as Fancy lies dying, Luis builds a fire and strips in order to keep her warm with his body heat
. Fearful of losing her, Luis admits that he is in love with Fancy for the first time. Fancy survives, and the two grow closer, though they are still unable to officially become a couple due to the police department's regulations.
. The sting backfires, however, and by the time Luis arrives, it is too late — the peeping tom has brutally raped Fancy, leaving the young woman emotionally scarred. At the hospital, she falls into a coma; Luis remains by his love's side, encouraging her to wake up, while a jealous Sheridan tells her comatose niece that she is no good for Luis and will only bring him pain. Fancy eventually regains consciousness, the Christmas miracle of 2006. Though emotionally and physically devastated by her rape, Luis swears to stand by her side as she heals.
While Fancy sleeps, trying to recover from her rapes, her rapist begins using a secret passageway leading to her closet to terrorize her while she is alone. During one attack, Fancy is able to rip a button from her attacker's shirt, but Sheridan finds and hides it, convincing Luis that a combination of trauma and alcohol have caused Fancy to imagine her attacks while also suggesting that Fancy may be purposely fabricating the attacks for attention. Fancy lashes out at her aunt, revealing that she had heard Sheridan's monologue as she lay in a coma, but Luis is unprepared to believe that his ex-flame has changed so drastically. Luis's disbelief soon leads to tragedy when Fancy's attacker
returns one night as she sleeps in her "princess room". The attacker injects Luis with a drug, causing him to hallucinate that he is making love to Fancy while the attacker rapes him and collects his semen
. After dragging Luis away, the attacker then rapes Fancy for a second time, at which time he inserts Luis's semen into her vagina
. When Chad and Whitney hear Fancy screaming they burst into her room, finding her alone but bruised.
The decision to have Fancy raped for a second time stunned and even upset some fans. Harper admitted that the rape scenes were "definitely, as an actor, one of the most challenging scenes I've ever done. There was a couple of months where it was numerous times, numerous occasions where Fancy was raped and... we wanted to present it in a realistic fashion and show that emotional aspect of going through something like that. I think we conveyed that very well."
Everyone searches the mansion for Fancy's attacker, finally finding the masked man unconscious in the pantry. When his mask is removed, the man is revealed to be none other than Luis. Fancy is devastated by the turn of events, unsure if she can trust Luis after he promised — and failed — to protect her. Fancy eventually agrees to undergo a rape kit, and the DNA
found inside of her is a perfect match to that of Luis. As Fancy had earlier admitted that she and Luis have never had sex, Luis is arrested for rape and then later released on bail. Hoping to prove his innocence, both Luis and Fancy undergo hypnosis
; Luis eventually remembers being attacked by the Blackmailer, and both he and Fancy refer to their attacker as being female. Luis and Fancy hope to be able to finally prove his innocence when Simone
's girlfriend, Rae, claims to have information about Fancy's attacker, but the attacker murders Rae and frames Luis; after acid is poured on Fancy's leg while she and Luis are away from Harmony, he is arrested and held in jail.
Fancy is later called to the scene of an arson
, where she sees the assumed arsonist inside; when a box of ammunition explodes due to the heat, she believes that she is being shot at and returns fire, striking the arsonist. She soon discovers that the arsonist is none other than Luis, who had realized that he was about to be framed for another crime and rushed to stop the real criminal, and he is rushed to the hospital, where he survives but is charged with arson and a second murder, that of a bartender at the Blue Note who claimed to have information on the attacker from Rae. Luis and his brother, Miguel
, are both tried at the same time, despite having committed unrelated crimes. Fancy provides helpful testimony on the witness stand, but a jealous Sheridan takes the stand and destroys her niece's credibility while admitting that she still wants Luis for herself. Luis is convicted of all five crimes and is furious with Sheridan for her antics.
Luis is sent to prison, but, hoping to spare Fancy the pain of seeing him incarcerated, removes her from the visitors list. Determined to see Luis, she disguises herself as a prison guard so that she can see and watch over Luis. Unbeknownst to her, Sheridan has disguised herself as a man and snuck in as Luis's cellmate; Fancy sees Sheridan kiss Luis and believes that Luis has "turned gay". After confronting Luis in solitary confinement
, she eventually comes to find that this is not the case. The two are about to have sex in the prison infirmary when Sheridan sees a live feed on Fancy's laptop of the two; she calls the warden, and Fancy is ejected from the prison, leaving her unable to protect Luis from the violent prison guards. After learning that Judge Reilly has ordered that Luis be executed as soon as possible, Fancy begins frantically searching for a way to clear Luis's name.
By late July, Luis's time has nearly run out; all of his appeals have been denied, and his execution is imminent. Desperate to savor their remaining time together, Fancy proposes to Luis, and he accepts. They are set to be married early in August, but Fancy's younger sister, Pretty, returns to Harmony just as Fancy is prepared to walk down the aisle. Pretty threatens to tell Luis how the sisters had been involved in a fight as teens that had left Pretty permanently scarred, and Fancy, who wants to allow Luis to die with faith in her, cancels the nuptials. Luis is executed on August 6, much to Fancy's dismay, but Endora Lenox quickly turns back time in the execution chamber so that Eve Russell is able to admit that her long-lost son with Julian (and Fancy's half-brother), Vincent Clarkson
, was the mysterious blackmailer who killed Rae Thomas and Dylan Flood, set fire to Dylan's apartment, and twice raped Fancy. Vincent is arrested, and Luis is freed.
Early in September, Alistair, with Pretty's help, drugs Fancy and has a mind-control device implanted into her brain via her nose. When Alistair tries to issue Fancy a command to slap Luis during foreplay
, the device malfunctions, and Fancy is hit with a disabilitating headache
. The headache eventually stops, but Fancy's nose soon begins to bleed heavily
; the NBC finale on September 7 has Fancy passed out as a result. In the DirecTV debut on September 17, Fancy quickly regains consciousness. However, Alistair finally discovers how to properly work the mind-control device and successfully causes Fancy to lash out at Luis and slap him across the face. Fancy's random and violent outbursts, coupled with Luis's secretive quest to find Marty and magically-influenced trysts, both with Sheridan, strain the couple's relationship and eventually lead Fancy to call quits.
After breaking up with Luis, Fancy goes to the wharf to clear her head; there, she comes across her ex-boyfriend, Noah Bennett. Due to Tabitha's spell, the two wind up kissing. Later, on Thanksgiving
, another of Tabitha's spells transports Fancy to the Lenox living room and causes her to make out with Noah; Noah's girlfriend, Paloma, catches them, but his sister Kay zaps Fancy away and makes all three forget what has happened. Tabitha is persistent, however, and, while Kay is out, she uses her powers to transport Fancy to Noah's bedroom and cause the two to have sex; when Paloma and Sheridan walk in on them, the two have no idea how they'd wound up together, or why they are in bed together. Paloma is furious and devastated and breaks up with Noah, while Sheridan gloats to her niece, calling her a slut and accusing her of never truly loving Luis.
When Fancy learns that Luis is missing, she becomes panicked and realizes that she still loves Luis, despite his infidelity with her aunt. Fancy and Sheridan team up to find Luis, but instead discover him beneath the Crane mansion in an embrace with Pretty. Fancy is furious, especially since she'd seen feed of them on her PDA
having sex. Luis tries to explain that Alistair would only let them free if he impregnated Pretty, but Fancy refuses to hear his excuses. However, on Christmas Eve, in a last-ditch attempt to recover her daughter, Tabitha Lenox performs good magic on Luis and Fancy, on whom she previously cast spells to make them have sex with Sheridan and Noah, respectively, and causes Fancy to overcome her reservations about Luis and reunite with him. Though gloriously happy to be back with Luis, she becomes upset when she learns that Luis failed to inform her that his son, Marty, did not die in Rome, though she is thrilled that he is alive. Watching Luis with Sheridan and Marty on Christmas Day (actually aired on December 26), Fancy begins to realize that Sheridan will be able to use Marty to bind Luis to her.
Fancy determines to keep Luis, however, and buys an extra ticket for Marty to the Boston Bruins
game so that the boy can accompany them on a date. Marty instantly bonds with Fancy, and both Luis and Fancy are thrilled at how natural the three are together. However, Pretty, in her quest to win Luis for herself, decides to use Alistair's mind-control device to make Fancy act out. Under Pretty's control, Fancy lashes out at Luis and Sheridan in front of Marty, even taunting the child, telling him that Alistair is hiding under his bed, waiting to kidnap him again. After further episodes, Pretty tries to convince Luis that Fancy has reverted to her partying ways while Sheridan insists that Fancy has reunited with Noah, and Luis, though still deeply in love with Fancy, begins to doubt her love for him. Luis is still trying to sort through his feelings when he and Paloma come across Noah and Fancy, who have been trying to figure out what has been going on between them, on the wharf. At first convinced that Fancy is cheating on him, Luis quickly becomes concerned when Sheridan and Pretty's battle for control of the remote causes Fancy to run into walls, bark like a dog, and, eventually, collapse and stop breathing. Once Fancy regains consciousness, the four quickly realize that there is, indeed, something physically wrong with Fancy and fear a brain tumor
. Still, Fancy's near-death experience draws her and Luis closer together than ever before, much to Sheridan and Pretty's chagrin. Pretty tries to use Luis and Fancy's closeness to convince Sheridan to team up with her, but Sheridan cannot abide by having such power over her niece and throws the remote control into the ocean; the water causes the device to short-circuit, and the chip dislodges itself from Fancy's nose. When Noah finds the device, he throws it, too, into the ocean, to Pretty's dismay.
After reuniting, Fancy begins thinking about having a baby with Luis. Though she is eager to become pregnant immediately, Luis is hesitant, preferring to fully recover from the past few months' drama before fathering a second child; Fancy understands but privately fears that Luis believes that her violent mood swings will return. When Pretty overhears Luis and Fancy's conversation, the younger Crane decides to fake a pregnancy to rip her sister's relationship apart. Fancy is devastated by the news, fearing that her relationship will be torn apart by Luis's families with her sister and aunt, but Luis vows that Fancy is the only one for him, proposing to her on April 30. Fancy and Luis eventually discover Pretty's treachery, and after Pretty tries to scar Fancy's face with acid, Sheridan reveals that Pretty's scar has been fake all along. Luis and Fancy quickly realize that the youngest Crane child is mentally unwell, and Pretty is sent to a mental institution. The couple are deeply upset by Pretty's plight, but are also happy to be free of her machinations, and begin planning for their imminent wedding. Fancy and Luis are married on July 23, and Fancy tells Luis that they are expecting a baby in the series finale. It is assumed that Julian becomes head of the Crane Empire with Fancy and her unborn child as heirs presumptive based on Julian's statements in the series finale.
, stubborn, self-centered party girl who, as an heiress to a multibillion-dollar empire, is accustomed to getting everything her way; her grandfather tells her that she was born to "enjoy [herself and] have fun". Overall, Fancy lacks seriousness, wearing frivolous, impractical, attention-grabbing (though not overly revealing) clothing and displaying a fun-seeking attitude. Early on, Fancy is often compared to Alistair in that she will do anything to get what she wanted, though, when she hurts others, it is due to a self-centered inability to see the effects that her actions will have on others and not a malicious desire to cause others pain.
Fancy, despite having traveled around the world, is also extremely naïve; after pawning her watch for an undisclosed sum of money, she uses her profits to purchase lottery tickets, not realizing that her chances of winning are so slim. Fancy also has a deep fear of poverty
, or, at least, what she considers to be poverty after having lived her entire life as one of the super-rich. Fancy's personality traits are not all negative, however; Fancy is also a bit of a free spirit and is fiercely protective of her loved ones — she is willing to give up Noah in order to protect him from Alistair.
Fancy's process of maturation essentially begins when she meets Noah, but she does not really become noticeably more mature and adult until 2006. In February that year, Fancy is involved in an accident in which she nearly loses her right eye. The trauma of that event, coupled with the crippling emotional pain she feels when she is led to believe that Noah, the first man with whom she has been in a serious, mature relationship, has cheated on her with his ex-girlfriend and was only with her because of her fame, forces the formerly self-centered heiress to do a great deal of growing up. A key event in Fancy's process of maturation, however, is when she discovers Alistair's true, villainous nature in Rome in July 2006. Up until that point, Alistair has played a huge role in Fancy's life as a sort of indulgent father figure who encourages her partying and shelters her from any real pain. When he sets lions after her and Luis, the façade of the man that she has known is destroyed, and she finally sees the evil person that the rest of Harmony's citizens have tried to show her. With her "father figure" dead, both physically and metaphorically, Fancy is left with no one to shield her from the real world and is forced to finally enter adulthood at either twenty-five or twenty-six years of age. Shortly thereafter, in August 2006, Fancy joins the Harmony Police Department primarily as a way to be close to her crush, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald. The cadet training program is rigorous and physically taxing, however, and, despite the pain, Fancy discovers a new sense of self-worth
; instead of living for and thinking of only herself, she is helping others, something that she finds deeply rewarding after years of being a celebutante.
Another key event occurs in December 2006, when Fancy disobeys Luis's orders and takes part in a sting operation
and is brutally attacked and raped. The attack emotionally fractures Fancy, and, for two or three months, she is a shadow of herself, constantly self-conscious and afraid that her attacker will come back and rape her again, which he eventually does a month later. Both the rapes and Luis's subsequent arrest and near-execution for her attacks and the murder of two other people are highly traumatizing events for Fancy, and she loses some of the free-spiritedness that she once possessed as a result.
In later episodes, Fancy has largely shed her vanity and selfishness, though she is still extremely stubborn, and still possesses a bit of the free-spiritedness and love of fun that she did when she was younger; overall, though, Fancy is ashamed or embarrassed by her behavior in her youth. Fancy is deeply compassionate and loving, willing to do anything for her loved ones, and, when not being forced to act against her will, behaves somewhat maternally towards Luis's son, Marty. Though lacking the naïveté she possessed in 2005, Fancy is still very trusting and is eager to believe the best in the people she loves — she refuses to entertain the notion that Esme murdered Fox and quickly and ecstatically forgives Pretty when her sister claims that she wants to be close again; in the latter situation, her trusting nature allows Alistair and Pretty to drug Fancy and implant a mind-control device in her brain.
Fancy was also the center of some controversy when the soap's writers had the character repeatedly sexually assaulted, and twice raped, over a two-month period in 2006–07. Harper said in one interview that "I didn't think it was very smart for Fancy to be left alone in her bedroom where she kept getting raped over and over... prey to be preyed upon. That was a little crazy, in my opinion. One rape was enough... A lot of people wrote in and said that it was getting to be a little too much, too out of control."
Crane Couture was featured prominently on Passions; characters often referenced the line, and Fancy wore several of the line's outfits on-air through July while notices on the bottom of the television screen alerted viewers to the Crane Couture website. The Crane Couture advertisements ended when Fancy began pursuing a career in law enforcement, however, and the collection's website is no longer updated.
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Crane) is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
/DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Passions
Passions
Passions is an American television soap opera which aired on NBC from July 5, 1999 to September 7, 2007 and on The 101 Network from September 17, 2007 to August 7, 2008....
and is portrayed by actress Emily Harper
Emily Harper
Emily Harper is an American actress.Harper portrayed Fancy Crane on the soap opera Passions from 2005 to 2008. She was introduced as the potential love interest of Noah Bennett . This was Harper's first regular role as an actress on a TV series...
from the May 13, 2005 episode through the series finale. Following her debut, Fancy quickly becomes one of the soap's lead heroines — Harper appears in 209 out of the 254 episodes that aired in 2006, a feat surpassed only by Lindsay Hartley
Lindsay Hartley
Lindsay Nicole Hartley is an American singer and actress. She is known for her role as Theresa Winthrop aka Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald on Passions, Carolyn "Cara" Martin on All My Children and for her role as Arianna Hernandez on Days of our Lives.- Early life :Born in Palm Springs, California,...
(Theresa
Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald Crane
Theresa Crane Winthrop is a fictional character and the main protagonist on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. She is portrayed by Lindsay Hartley throughout the program's tenure, with Priscilla Garita temporarily assuming the role from August 30–September 28, 2004, while Hartley was on...
).
Introduced in the May 13, 2005 episode alongside fellow Harmonyite
Harmony (passions)
Harmony is a fictional town and the setting for the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions, which ran from 1999 through 2008. A coastal New England town founded in 1646 with a small population, Harmony features a large fishing industry...
Noah Bennett
Noah Bennett
Noah Bennett is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions, portrayed by Dylan Fergus from May 13, 2005 to August 7, 2008.-Character's background:...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
, Fancy is quickly characterized as a vain, spoiled celebutante comparable to Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
and is soon revealed to be one of the frequently mentioned but heretofore unseen daughters of Julian
Julian Crane
Julian Linus Crane is a fictional character on the American soap opera Passions. Throughout the show's nine-year run, Julian is portrayed by original cast member Ben Masters, and the character debuted on July 8, 1999....
and Ivy Crane
Ivy Winthrop
Ivy Winthrop is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. Ivy has been portrayed by original cast member Kim Johnston Ulrich since the soap's premiere episode in July 1999...
; she is also established to be the favorite granddaughter of billionaire supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
Alistair Crane
Alistair Crane
Alistair Ephraim Crane is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. Alistair is portrayed by John Reilly on a recurring basis from August 20, 2007 to May 20, 2008; before Reilly's contract run from January 21, 2005 to July 17, 2006, Alistair was also portrayed by David Bailey...
and is later revealed to be the sole heiress to his empire
Crane family
The Crane family is a fictional family on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. Seated at 14 Raven Hill Road atop Raven Hill in Harmony, New England, the wealthy Crane family amassed its fortune during the eighteenth century via the slave trade, amongst other things...
. Fancy's first year of storylines is dominated by her off-and-on relationship with Noah and the conflict that it creates between herself and Alistair. With the middle-class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
Noah, Fancy begins her transformation from a spoiled princess into a caring, responsible young woman, but their relationship is eventually torn apart by Noah's lies and Alistair's machinations.
Nursing her heartbreak in Rome, Fancy befriends her aunt's ex-fiancé, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald
Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald
Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions, portrayed from 1999 to 2008 by original cast member Galen Gering. Debuting in the series' premiere episode, Luis is introduced as an honest, hard-working Irish-Mexican police officer who bitterly blames the...
, and joins him in his search for his son, and Fancy's cousin, Marty, furthering her process of maturation. Luis and Fancy eventually fall in love and become one of the program's central couples, bitterly dividing fans of the couple and those who prefer Luis with Sheridan
Sheridan Crane
Sheridan Lopez-Fitzgerald is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. She has been portrayed by McKenzie Westmore since the series began in 1999, and was briefly portrayed by Shannon Sturges when Westmore was out sick in 2005 and by Kam Heskin in 2006 when Westmore was out on...
and/or Fancy with Noah. Nonetheless, Fancy's storylines since mid-2006 center on her romance with Luis and subsequent rivalry with her aunt, Sheridan, and sister, Pretty
Pretty Crane
Pretty Crane is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. She is portrayed by Melinda Sward on a recurring basis from July 30, 2007 on NBC and became a contract cast when NBC continued the series on DirecTV on September 17, 2007....
, for his affection. Despite numerous obstacles, Luis and Fancy are married in the July 23, 2008, episode, and Fancy announces her pregnancy in the series finale.
Character background
Fancy Crane was born under the sign of Capricorn (December 22–January 19) in 1980 to Julian Linus Crane, an executive at Crane Industries and the eldest son of ruthless multi-billionaire Alistair Ephraim Crane and his first wife, Katherine Crane (née Barrett), and Ivy Crane (née Winthrop), a socialiteSocialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
and the daughter of the late former Governor Harrison Winthrop and his wife, the late Helen Winthrop (née Revere-Mott-Beaton). Fancy is the scion of numerous wealthy, prominent families that immigrated to North America
British colonization of the Americas
British colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas...
before the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
— her paternal grandfather is a descendant of William Ephraim Crane, a magistrate who ordered Tabitha Lenox
Tabitha Lenox
Tabitha Lenox is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists from the NBC/DirecTV daytime drama Passions. Tabitha has been played by Juliet Mills since the show's debut in 1999. Mills continued in the role when the show moved from NBC to DirecTV's The 101 in September 2007...
's execution in 1693, sparking Tabitha's vendetta against the Crane family, and her maternal grandmother was a descendant of Paul Revere
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...
. Fancy is largely of English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
descent, with some French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
ancestry, and was brought up, to some degree, as a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
Fancy was raised as the second of four children — Ethan Crane
Ethan Winthrop
Ethan Winthrop is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV daytime drama Passions. Ethan is played by both Travis Schuldt and Eric Martsolf...
(later Winthrop), who was revealed to be her maternal half-brother in 2001, is about five years her senior, while Fox Crane
Fox Crane
Nicholas Foxworth "Fox" Crane is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions and was portrayed by Justin Hartley from December 17, 2002—February 10, 2006, and Mark Cameron Wystrach from February 14, 2006—September 7, 2007...
and Pretty Crane are a few years her junior. While they were raised in the lap of luxury, the Crane siblings, excluding Ethan, had a dysfunctional childhood, with Ivy admitting that her youngest three children had a father who was "either absent or intoxicated" and a mother "who just didn't care". Ivy favored Ethan over her other children because he was the son of her "true love", Sam Bennett, and not her husband, whom she loathed, and Fancy, as well as her younger siblings, came to resent their mother for this. Though younger brother Fox is equally angry with Julian, Fancy never expresses the same sort of bitterness against her father, whom she remembers taking her and best friend Esme Vanderheusen
Esme Vanderheusen
Esme Vanderheusen is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. Esme is portrayed by actress Erin Cardillo, who joined the cast in a recurring capacity on November 2005; Cardillo later went on to make appearances in 2006 and 2007 before becoming a contract cast member upon the...
out for ice cream when they were in the third grade
Third grade
In the United States, third grade is a year of primary education. It is the third school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 8 – 9 years old, depending on when their birthday occurs....
.
Despite being virtually ignored by her parents during her formative years, Fancy did fare better than her younger siblings; since her birth, Fancy has been her grandfather Alistair's favorite relative — Alistair believes her to be the only "true Crane" of all of his descendants. For some twenty-five years, Alistair was consistently the only person upon whom Fancy could depend for love and support, and he, in many ways, was more of a father to her than Julian — when she was seven, it was Alistair, and not Julian and Ivy, whom she begged for the wild, untamed Arabian stallion
Arabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
she wanted so badly. Alistair was very protective of his firstborn granddaughter — not even Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco is the head of the House of Grimaldi and the ruler of the Principality of Monaco. He is the son of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and the American actress Grace Kelly...
would have made a suitable husband for his little girl — and he shielded her from his malevolent, vindictive side, which the rest of their family knew to be his true nature. Fancy actually unwittingly brought Alistair's wrath down on others several times, including one time as a child when a boy at the playground hurt her feelings; Fancy later cried to her grandfather about the boy's taunts, and Alistair, in turn, saw that the boy's parents lost their jobs, forcing the couple to leave Harmony with their son.
Alistair's doting was never able to fully satiate Fancy's need to feel wanted and loved by her parents, however. When Fancy was about ten, Julian and Ivy forgot to send for their daughter at Christmastime, leaving her all alone at boarding school. Already secure in her status as a Crane, Fancy called a limo to take her to the mansion in Harmony, but was deeply crushed to find that her parents and siblings had left town for the holidays without her. Fancy's eventual savior was this time Ethan, who arrived with a large bag of presents for his younger sister; even as an adult, Fancy remains close to her elder brother.
As a teenager, Fancy was wild and rebellious; her thirteenth birthday party was canceled five minutes before its designated start time after she and her sister stole the caterer's van and drove it halfway to neighboring Castleton. She was also pulled over by future police chief Sam Bennett at least once for driving over the speed limit
Speed limit
Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign...
and without a license
Driver's license
A driver's license/licence , or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus, on a public roadway. Most U.S...
after she took her parents' Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
for a joyride
Joyride (crime)
To joyride is to drive around in a stolen car, boat, or other vehicle with no particular goal, a ride taken solely for pleasure.In English law, joyriding is not considered to be theft, because the intention to "permanently deprive" the owner of the vehicle cannot be proven...
at age fourteen. The majority of Fancy's most serious infractions occurred while with Esme Vanderheusen, who became her best friend when they met in boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
. Despite the fact that they were both wild and wealthy, Esme insists that Fancy never engaged in recreational drug use
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
. Partying and rebellion did not fulfill Fancy, however, and she frequently wished for a more "normal" life; Fancy's favorite book as an adolescent was Dreams of a Varsity Cheerleader, and she longed to trade her life at her all-girls boarding school for the heroine's coeducation
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
al public high school.
Both Fancy's childhood and teenage years were marked by a sometimes competitive relationship with her younger sister, Pretty. The girls' aunt Sheridan offers an anecdote in January 2007 in which she accuses Fancy of stealing Pretty's date one Labor Day
Labor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...
by pretending to sprain her ankle on the family's yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
. According to her account, Fancy, not Pretty, ended up dating the country-club
Country club
A country club is a private club, often with a closed membership, that typically offers a variety of recreational sports facilities and is located in city outskirts or rural areas. Activities may include, for example, any of golf, tennis, swimming or polo...
boy, then broke up with him after a week once she was satisfied that she had beaten her sister; Fancy, however, vehemently denies that the situation occurred as her aunt outlines. Sometime after this incident, Fancy and Pretty were involved in a physical altercation with one another — Pretty claims that Fancy was jealous of her relationship with a boy named Harrison, while Fancy maintains that Pretty had been choking her — in which Fancy poured cyanuric acid
Cyanuric acid
Cyanuric acid or 1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triol is a chemical compound with the formula 3. Like many industrially useful chemicals, this triazine has many synonyms. This white, odorless solid finds use as a precursor or a component of bleaches, disinfectants, and herbicides...
on the right side of her sister's face. Though Fancy claims that she acted in self-defense and was unaware of the bottle's contents, the chemicals nonetheless apparently left the side of Pretty's face heavily scarred, and Pretty has never forgiven her sister, maintaining her belief that Fancy acted to prevent another man from ever preferring Pretty over herself.
Sometime before July 1999, Fancy departed Harmony for a prestigious school, either boarding or a university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, and did not return until June 2005. Fancy did eventually make it to college, but, according to Ivy, she has yet to complete her degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
. It was originally said in 2005 that Fancy later made her way to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
with her sister sometime in 2004 or 2005, with the two parting ways after Pretty fell in love with an Italian nobleman, although the revelation of Fancy and Pretty's feud in 2007 seems to have created a retcon.
Beginnings in Las Vegas and progression in Harmony, 2005
Fancy is first introduced in May 2005 as a character à la Paris Hilton — a spoiled, selfish "princess" who, in furtherance of this comparison, owns a small dog and has supposedly dated two of Hilton's ex-boyfriends. She is partying in Las Vegas with her friend, Veronica, when she sets her sights on Noah Bennett, who is making his living by gamblingGambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
and operating under the alias
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Ned. Noah rejects Fancy's advances, however, mistaking her for a prostitute and infuriating the heiress. Noah and Fancy meet again later that night when she seeks solace in what she believes to be an unfinished room from an attempted rapist. Shortly thereafter, the hotel staff discover that Noah has been squatting
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
and attempt to apprehend the pair. In one room, the two find a suitcase full of money — and the corpse of Fancy's attempted rapist. Spooked, the two give the money to two nuns and leave Vegas for home — unaware that both call the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
town of Harmony home.
Back in Harmony, Fancy discovers Noah's true identity, and vice versa, and she complains to Alistair about her Vegas companion; Alistair, furious at his granddaughter's treatment at Noah's hands, declares war on the Bennett family
Bennett family
The Bennett family is a middle class family of Irish descent living in the fictional town of Harmony on NBC's daytime drama Passions. The Bennetts were on the ruthless Alistair Crane's bad side for years, but they earned Alistair's full wrath in the summer of 2005 when Alistair's granddaughter,...
by having Sam Bennett fired from his position as chief of police. Noah is furious with Fancy, but protects her from the Las Vegas mobsters and saves her during the summer 2005 Harmony tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
. During the disaster storyline, the two are thrown together in a fight for survival once more, and actress Emily Harper notes that it is during this experience that "Fancy finally admits to herself her true feelings about Noah". This progress is dashed, however, when Fancy finds a letter from Noah's ex-girlfriend, Maya Chinn, in Noah's wallet. In the letter, Maya reminds Noah that he'd claimed that he'd never love another girl like he'd loved her, leaving Fancy devastated. When Noah leaves town to protect his family from his Las Vegas enemies, unaware that Alistair has taken care of the men, Fancy reluctantly obeys her mother's wishes and chases after him, and the two reconnect.
Noah and Fancy are about to consummate their relationship at Sheridan's cottage when Alistair arrives. Unaware that Noah is hiding in the other room, he lectures his granddaughter, warning her to stay away from "commoners" like Noah Bennett. Fancy placates her grandfather, but Noah believes that her hurtful words are truthful and angrily leaves. Later that night, he informs Fancy that they are over. After a date with Edmund Sinclair, both one of Noah's friends from elementary
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
and middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
and the grandson of one of Alistair's business associates, Noah and Fancy overcome their misunderstandings and have sex
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
on the beach. Unbeknownst to the couple, Alistair is watching them from the bushes; in retaliation, he plants drugs
Psychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
and a gun in Noah's car, resulting in Noah's arrest. Fancy briefly breaks up with Noah, hoping to save him from her grandfather's wrath, but both eventually decide to find strength in their love.
Upon learning that Alistair has removed her from his will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
following his marriage to Theresa and adoption of Little Ethan, Fancy is devastated. Though she is sure that a future with Noah is more important than the Crane billions, Fancy has difficulty adjusting to the idea of being "poor" and having to work for a living. Fancy exploits her position as Alistair's favorite to have him offer Noah a position at Crane Industries, but Noah is furious that Fancy would suggest such a thing, and they break up again.
Fancy begins to work at Crane Industries as head of the style division, but not even work can distract her from missing Noah. When her best friend, Esme Vanderheusen, visits Harmony and sets her sights on Noah, Fancy becomes so jealous that she tricks Esme into leaving town and reunites with Noah. Still, the couple is unable to find happiness when Fancy begins to suspect Noah of infidelity
Infidelity
In many intimate relationships in many cultures there is usually an express or implied expectation of exclusivity, especially in sexual matters. Infidelity most commonly refers to a breach of the expectation of sexual exclusivity.Infidelity can occur in relation to physical intimacy and/or...
. Fancy follows her lover one December evening and finds him and Theresa at one of the Crane cabins with her and Noah's mutual comatose half-brother, Ethan, who is to be removed from life support
Life support
Life support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...
. Furious with Noah's actions, which defy Ethan's own wishes, Fancy breaks up with Noah once more. Remembering a Christmas past, however, when only Ethan had remembered her forgotten at boarding school, Fancy decides to refrain from calling the police until after Christmas. The police find Ethan, though, and Fancy, Theresa, and Noah are all arrested. Alistair bails his wife and granddaughter out of jail, and Fancy, having forgiven Noah, arranges for them to spend Christmas Eve together at the jail.
Disintegration, 2006
Noah is eventually released from jail, but the couple's relationship is later dealt a severe blow when Noah calls out the name of his ex-girlfriend, Maya, while in bed with Fancy. Fancy, furious, breaks up with Noah when he refuses to come clean about his past. Noah, eager to fix his relationship, is prepared to come clean with Fancy, but when Maya, who has returned to Harmony, is attacked on the wharf due to a murder that she and Noah had witnessed in college, Noah decides to clam up; Fancy reiterates the dissolution of their relationship. Fancy is miserable without Noah, though, and agrees to take him back on one condition — that he tell her about his past with Maya. Noah is prepared to do so when a car crashes into the diner in which they are eating, causing glass to severely damage the optic nerveOptic nerve
The optic nerve, also called cranial nerve 2, transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. Derived from the embryonic retinal ganglion cell, a diverticulum located in the diencephalon, the optic nerve doesn't regenerate after transection.-Anatomy:The optic nerve is the second of...
of Fancy's right eye, as well as lacerate the cornea
Cornea
The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber. Together with the lens, the cornea refracts light, with the cornea accounting for approximately two-thirds of the eye's total optical power. In humans, the refractive power of the cornea is...
. With the amount of glass embedded into the back of her eye, doctors are unsure if it can be saved. Fancy is terrified, but feels even more strongly that she needs to know about Noah and Maya's past, as the organization threatening Noah and Maya is undoubtedly behind the diner incident. Noah refuses to tell Fancy, fearing for her safety, and Fancy maintains that their relationship is over.
After talking with Katherine and Rachel, however, Fancy decides to accept Noah's lies and take him back. Their reunion is short-lived, though, for Fancy soon finds Noah in bed with Maya. Noah, who, along with Maya, has been arrested by the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
on charges of terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, makes a deal to pretend to be dating Maya and garner information from the terrorist organization for the FBI. As a result, Noah tells Fancy that she was only a conquest to him, and Fancy, broken-hearted, ends their relationship.
With a clean bill of health in regards to her eye, Fancy leaves Harmony for Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, a city that she hopes will inspire her to design more clothes. In Rome, Fancy finds that Esme and the notorious gigolo
Gigolo
Gigolo may refer to:* A male prostitute, escort, or dancer, who offers services to women* Gigolo , a 2006 single by Helena Paparizou* Gigolo , a 2003 single by Nick Cannon...
Gianni Valentino are staying at her hotel — as are Noah and Maya, who are there to double-cross Lena and her terrorist organization. Fancy briefly dates Gianni to make Noah jealous, but when, at a club, Noah sincerely swears his undying love for her, Fancy takes Noah back. The two sleep together again, but when she wakes up, Noah has gone back to the club, where he is making out with Maya. Fancy swears Noah off once and for all; though Noah eventually tells Fancy that he was only pretending to be involved with Maya as part of an FBI sting to bring down Lena, Maya and Lena have both been killed and his sister, Jessica, is uncooperative, leaving Noah without any proof of his story. Having been lied to once too many times, Fancy refuses to believe her ex, though Noah accuses her of not wanting to reunite because she is falling in love with Luis.
Relationship with Luis
New crush in Rome, 2006
Fancy first meets her aunt's ex-fiancé, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, in Rome when she and Noah hear a womanWhitney Russell
Whitney Harris-Crane is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. She is played by Brook Kerr from the series' debut in July 1999 and departed in September 2007 when Whitney moves to New Orleans...
in the catacombs
Catacombs of Rome
The Catacombs of Rome are ancient catacombs, underground burial places under or near Rome, Italy, of which there are at least forty, some discovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together, they began in the 2nd century, much...
screaming. Beneath the city, Noah and Fancy find Luis and Chad Harris, who have been buried beneath the rubble of a cave-in. Luis, mistakenly believing that Fancy is her aunt Sheridan, kisses her, and later carries his almost-niece out of the catacombs after a falling rock strikes her in the head. It is during this event that Fancy first develops a crush on Luis, though both remain oblivious to her true feelings and become good friends. As Harper notes, "[Luis] and Fancy are the walking wounded. They have two totally different stories, but they find common ground and connect".
Luis, fearing that Fancy might be the "[person] from Harmony who will die in Rome", decides to become Fancy's bodyguard
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
, a difficult task. Fancy unknowingly ends up becoming friends with none other than her deranged half-aunt, Beth Wallace
Beth Wallace
Beth Wallace was a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. Beth was played by Kelli McCarty from August 23, 1999 until July 18, 2005 and from May 12 to July 14, 2006. The role was contract from October 14, 2002 until May 12, 2004....
, who erroneously believes that Luis and Fancy are lovers. Beth tries to kill Fancy both in Roman ruins and in her hotel room by locking Luis in the bathroom and smothering Fancy with a pillow, but ultimately fails at both attempts. Fancy, fearful that Beth might return, has Luis platonically share her bed for protection; Noah walks in on the two and believes that they have had sex. Noah tells Fancy that she disgusts him, and Luis comforts Fancy as she cries. After her attack, Fancy becomes determined to help Luis find his son, Marty, whom Beth has kidnapped. Fancy uses Beth's determination to commit murder to lure her to an art gallery, but Beth escapes into a cab with Marty. Luis and Fancy chase the cab via motorcycle, but the cab crashes and bursts into flames, apparently killing Beth and Marty.
When Sheridan calls with the news that Alistair is no longer in a coma and is more than likely in Rome, Luis sets out to murder Alistair, blaming him for Marty's death; Fancy follows. They, along with Noah and Chad, find Alistair in the basement of a church possessing the omega
Omega
Omega is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system, it has a value of 800. The word literally means "great O" , as opposed to omicron, which means "little O"...
symbol, where he is attempting to heat the chalice in the fire and thus become omnipotent
Omnipotence
Omnipotence is unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence to only the deity of whichever faith is being addressed...
. The four stop him, but he triggers a cave-in and escapes. Luis and Fancy find him in an exact replica of his Harmony study in the catacombs, where he is accompanied by a very-much-alive Beth. Luis and Fancy attempt to take the two to the police and force them to reveal Marty's whereabouts, but Alistair and Beth again escape, retrieving Marty and fleeing to some Roman ruins. There, Alistair unleashes lions on the two, forcing Fancy to realize just how evil her grandfather truly is, and when Luis has to stop to save Fancy, the trio escape. Demented Beth, however, is determined to still be with Luis and calls him, allowing Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
to track the signal to a train preparing to leave the city. Luis, Fancy, and Noah take an Interpol helicopter to chase after Marty, but a mysterious drone
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
plane destroys a bridge, causing the train to plummet into a ravine and killing Alistair, Beth, and Marty. Devastated, Luis, Fancy, and the rest of those involved in the vendetta storyline return to Harmony.
Progression in Harmony, 2006
Upon returning to Harmony, Fancy comes to realize that she has feelings for Luis and, with Sheridan's blessing, begins to actively pursue a relationship with him. She quits her job at Crane and joins the police cadet training program in order to be close to the object of her desires, but she eventually comes to love police work, as well, and refuses to quit when she discovers that officers and cadets are forbidden from fraternizing. Instead, she and Luis decide to officially begin dating after she has been graduated from the police academyPolice academy
A police academy is a training school for new police recruits, also known as a law enforcement academy.-Australia:Larger police departments usually run their own academies. States often run a centralised academy for training of personnel of law enforcement agencies within the state.Police...
.
While playing with her young cousin, James, Fancy realizes that the boy saw the man
Spike Lester
Herbert "Spike" Lester is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. He was played by Christopher Maleki from March 10, 2005 to January 7, 2008.-Character history:...
who had murdered one of the Cranes' maids, Phyllis. Fancy chases after Spike without calling for back-up, and he renders her unconscious in an abandoned mineshaft, blindfolds her, and attempts to rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
her. Chris discovers what Spike is attempting and stops him, but Fancy escapes and flees, eventually falling through some rotten floorboards and landing, unconscious, on a platform many feet down. Chris and Spike both believe Fancy to be dead and leave her body in the shaft. Luis, meanwhile, searches frantically for his would-be girlfriend, causing Sheridan to become stricken with jealousy. She fixes Luis some tea and puts a sleeping pill in it, despite the fact that such an act risks her own niece's life. However, in their unconscious states, Luis and Fancy's souls are able to connect; when Luis wakes, he finds dirt and blood on his jacket that were not there before he fell asleep. With the dirt and blood, Luis, Sheridan, and Paloma
Paloma Lopez-Fitzgerald
Paloma Lopez-Fitzgerald Bennett was a fictional character on daytime drama Passions. She was portrayed by Silvana Arias from May 17, 2004 to August 15, 2007...
are able to find the mineshaft. While attempting to rescue Fancy, she and Luis plummet to the bottom of the mineshaft; as Fancy lies dying, Luis builds a fire and strips in order to keep her warm with his body heat
Body heat
Body Heat is a 1981 film by Lawrence Kasdan.Body Heat may also refer to:*Body heat or thermoregulation, the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries*Body Heat...
. Fearful of losing her, Luis admits that he is in love with Fancy for the first time. Fancy survives, and the two grow closer, though they are still unable to officially become a couple due to the police department's regulations.
Rapes and Luis's incarceration, 2006–07
Back at work, Fancy is determined to prove herself to Luis, her superior; she switches with another officer in order to go undercover and catch a peeping tomPeeping Tom
Peeping Tom is a nickname commonly given to voyeurs, particularly males. It originated with the legend of Lady Godiva, when a man named Tom watched her during her nude ride and was struck blind or dead.It may also refer to:In music...
. The sting backfires, however, and by the time Luis arrives, it is too late — the peeping tom has brutally raped Fancy, leaving the young woman emotionally scarred. At the hospital, she falls into a coma; Luis remains by his love's side, encouraging her to wake up, while a jealous Sheridan tells her comatose niece that she is no good for Luis and will only bring him pain. Fancy eventually regains consciousness, the Christmas miracle of 2006. Though emotionally and physically devastated by her rape, Luis swears to stand by her side as she heals.
While Fancy sleeps, trying to recover from her rapes, her rapist begins using a secret passageway leading to her closet to terrorize her while she is alone. During one attack, Fancy is able to rip a button from her attacker's shirt, but Sheridan finds and hides it, convincing Luis that a combination of trauma and alcohol have caused Fancy to imagine her attacks while also suggesting that Fancy may be purposely fabricating the attacks for attention. Fancy lashes out at her aunt, revealing that she had heard Sheridan's monologue as she lay in a coma, but Luis is unprepared to believe that his ex-flame has changed so drastically. Luis's disbelief soon leads to tragedy when Fancy's attacker
Vincent Clarkson
Vincent Clarkson is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. The role has been portrayed by Phillip Jeanmarie from December 26, 2006—July 18, 2008...
returns one night as she sleeps in her "princess room". The attacker injects Luis with a drug, causing him to hallucinate that he is making love to Fancy while the attacker rapes him and collects his semen
Semen
Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that may contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...
. After dragging Luis away, the attacker then rapes Fancy for a second time, at which time he inserts Luis's semen into her vagina
Vagina
The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...
. When Chad and Whitney hear Fancy screaming they burst into her room, finding her alone but bruised.
The decision to have Fancy raped for a second time stunned and even upset some fans. Harper admitted that the rape scenes were "definitely, as an actor, one of the most challenging scenes I've ever done. There was a couple of months where it was numerous times, numerous occasions where Fancy was raped and... we wanted to present it in a realistic fashion and show that emotional aspect of going through something like that. I think we conveyed that very well."
Everyone searches the mansion for Fancy's attacker, finally finding the masked man unconscious in the pantry. When his mask is removed, the man is revealed to be none other than Luis. Fancy is devastated by the turn of events, unsure if she can trust Luis after he promised — and failed — to protect her. Fancy eventually agrees to undergo a rape kit, and the DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
found inside of her is a perfect match to that of Luis. As Fancy had earlier admitted that she and Luis have never had sex, Luis is arrested for rape and then later released on bail. Hoping to prove his innocence, both Luis and Fancy undergo hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
; Luis eventually remembers being attacked by the Blackmailer, and both he and Fancy refer to their attacker as being female. Luis and Fancy hope to be able to finally prove his innocence when Simone
Simone Russell
Simone Russell is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. She was recently portrayed by Cathy Jeneen Doe , but has previously been portrayed by Lena Cardwell and Chrystee Pharris .- Background :Simone Russell is the youngest daughter of T.C...
's girlfriend, Rae, claims to have information about Fancy's attacker, but the attacker murders Rae and frames Luis; after acid is poured on Fancy's leg while she and Luis are away from Harmony, he is arrested and held in jail.
Fancy is later called to the scene of an arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
, where she sees the assumed arsonist inside; when a box of ammunition explodes due to the heat, she believes that she is being shot at and returns fire, striking the arsonist. She soon discovers that the arsonist is none other than Luis, who had realized that he was about to be framed for another crime and rushed to stop the real criminal, and he is rushed to the hospital, where he survives but is charged with arson and a second murder, that of a bartender at the Blue Note who claimed to have information on the attacker from Rae. Luis and his brother, Miguel
Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald
Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. The youngest son of the once-missing Martin Fitzgerald and Mexican immigrant Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald, the character as played by Jesse Metcalfe was caught in a love triangle with true love Charity Standish and...
, are both tried at the same time, despite having committed unrelated crimes. Fancy provides helpful testimony on the witness stand, but a jealous Sheridan takes the stand and destroys her niece's credibility while admitting that she still wants Luis for herself. Luis is convicted of all five crimes and is furious with Sheridan for her antics.
Luis is sent to prison, but, hoping to spare Fancy the pain of seeing him incarcerated, removes her from the visitors list. Determined to see Luis, she disguises herself as a prison guard so that she can see and watch over Luis. Unbeknownst to her, Sheridan has disguised herself as a man and snuck in as Luis's cellmate; Fancy sees Sheridan kiss Luis and believes that Luis has "turned gay". After confronting Luis in solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
, she eventually comes to find that this is not the case. The two are about to have sex in the prison infirmary when Sheridan sees a live feed on Fancy's laptop of the two; she calls the warden, and Fancy is ejected from the prison, leaving her unable to protect Luis from the violent prison guards. After learning that Judge Reilly has ordered that Luis be executed as soon as possible, Fancy begins frantically searching for a way to clear Luis's name.
By late July, Luis's time has nearly run out; all of his appeals have been denied, and his execution is imminent. Desperate to savor their remaining time together, Fancy proposes to Luis, and he accepts. They are set to be married early in August, but Fancy's younger sister, Pretty, returns to Harmony just as Fancy is prepared to walk down the aisle. Pretty threatens to tell Luis how the sisters had been involved in a fight as teens that had left Pretty permanently scarred, and Fancy, who wants to allow Luis to die with faith in her, cancels the nuptials. Luis is executed on August 6, much to Fancy's dismay, but Endora Lenox quickly turns back time in the execution chamber so that Eve Russell is able to admit that her long-lost son with Julian (and Fancy's half-brother), Vincent Clarkson
Vincent Clarkson
Vincent Clarkson is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. The role has been portrayed by Phillip Jeanmarie from December 26, 2006—July 18, 2008...
, was the mysterious blackmailer who killed Rae Thomas and Dylan Flood, set fire to Dylan's apartment, and twice raped Fancy. Vincent is arrested, and Luis is freed.
Rivalry with Sheridan and Pretty, 2007–08
Angry that Fancy is so happy, Pretty decides to take her revenge on her sister and tells Luis that Fancy had thrown pool chemicals in her face in a purposeful attempt to scar her. Luis doesn't believe Pretty until Fancy confirms the story, though she denies that the attack was intentional. Fancy tries to break up with Luis, afraid that the so-called "Crane curse" will cause her to harm Luis, as it has caused all of her Crane relatives to harm their loved ones, but Luis convinces her to continue their relationship.Early in September, Alistair, with Pretty's help, drugs Fancy and has a mind-control device implanted into her brain via her nose. When Alistair tries to issue Fancy a command to slap Luis during foreplay
Foreplay
In human sexual behavior, foreplay is a set of intimate psychological and physically intimate acts between two or more people meant to create desire for sexual activity and sexual arousal. Either or any of the sexual partners may initiate the foreplay, and they may not be the active partner during...
, the device malfunctions, and Fancy is hit with a disabilitating headache
Headache
A headache or cephalalgia is pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck. The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the...
. The headache eventually stops, but Fancy's nose soon begins to bleed heavily
Nosebleed
Epistaxis or a nosebleed is the relatively common occurrence of hemorrhage from the nose, usually noticed when the blood drains out through the nostrils...
; the NBC finale on September 7 has Fancy passed out as a result. In the DirecTV debut on September 17, Fancy quickly regains consciousness. However, Alistair finally discovers how to properly work the mind-control device and successfully causes Fancy to lash out at Luis and slap him across the face. Fancy's random and violent outbursts, coupled with Luis's secretive quest to find Marty and magically-influenced trysts, both with Sheridan, strain the couple's relationship and eventually lead Fancy to call quits.
After breaking up with Luis, Fancy goes to the wharf to clear her head; there, she comes across her ex-boyfriend, Noah Bennett. Due to Tabitha's spell, the two wind up kissing. Later, on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
, another of Tabitha's spells transports Fancy to the Lenox living room and causes her to make out with Noah; Noah's girlfriend, Paloma, catches them, but his sister Kay zaps Fancy away and makes all three forget what has happened. Tabitha is persistent, however, and, while Kay is out, she uses her powers to transport Fancy to Noah's bedroom and cause the two to have sex; when Paloma and Sheridan walk in on them, the two have no idea how they'd wound up together, or why they are in bed together. Paloma is furious and devastated and breaks up with Noah, while Sheridan gloats to her niece, calling her a slut and accusing her of never truly loving Luis.
When Fancy learns that Luis is missing, she becomes panicked and realizes that she still loves Luis, despite his infidelity with her aunt. Fancy and Sheridan team up to find Luis, but instead discover him beneath the Crane mansion in an embrace with Pretty. Fancy is furious, especially since she'd seen feed of them on her PDA
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
having sex. Luis tries to explain that Alistair would only let them free if he impregnated Pretty, but Fancy refuses to hear his excuses. However, on Christmas Eve, in a last-ditch attempt to recover her daughter, Tabitha Lenox performs good magic on Luis and Fancy, on whom she previously cast spells to make them have sex with Sheridan and Noah, respectively, and causes Fancy to overcome her reservations about Luis and reunite with him. Though gloriously happy to be back with Luis, she becomes upset when she learns that Luis failed to inform her that his son, Marty, did not die in Rome, though she is thrilled that he is alive. Watching Luis with Sheridan and Marty on Christmas Day (actually aired on December 26), Fancy begins to realize that Sheridan will be able to use Marty to bind Luis to her.
Fancy determines to keep Luis, however, and buys an extra ticket for Marty to the Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
game so that the boy can accompany them on a date. Marty instantly bonds with Fancy, and both Luis and Fancy are thrilled at how natural the three are together. However, Pretty, in her quest to win Luis for herself, decides to use Alistair's mind-control device to make Fancy act out. Under Pretty's control, Fancy lashes out at Luis and Sheridan in front of Marty, even taunting the child, telling him that Alistair is hiding under his bed, waiting to kidnap him again. After further episodes, Pretty tries to convince Luis that Fancy has reverted to her partying ways while Sheridan insists that Fancy has reunited with Noah, and Luis, though still deeply in love with Fancy, begins to doubt her love for him. Luis is still trying to sort through his feelings when he and Paloma come across Noah and Fancy, who have been trying to figure out what has been going on between them, on the wharf. At first convinced that Fancy is cheating on him, Luis quickly becomes concerned when Sheridan and Pretty's battle for control of the remote causes Fancy to run into walls, bark like a dog, and, eventually, collapse and stop breathing. Once Fancy regains consciousness, the four quickly realize that there is, indeed, something physically wrong with Fancy and fear a brain tumor
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
. Still, Fancy's near-death experience draws her and Luis closer together than ever before, much to Sheridan and Pretty's chagrin. Pretty tries to use Luis and Fancy's closeness to convince Sheridan to team up with her, but Sheridan cannot abide by having such power over her niece and throws the remote control into the ocean; the water causes the device to short-circuit, and the chip dislodges itself from Fancy's nose. When Noah finds the device, he throws it, too, into the ocean, to Pretty's dismay.
After reuniting, Fancy begins thinking about having a baby with Luis. Though she is eager to become pregnant immediately, Luis is hesitant, preferring to fully recover from the past few months' drama before fathering a second child; Fancy understands but privately fears that Luis believes that her violent mood swings will return. When Pretty overhears Luis and Fancy's conversation, the younger Crane decides to fake a pregnancy to rip her sister's relationship apart. Fancy is devastated by the news, fearing that her relationship will be torn apart by Luis's families with her sister and aunt, but Luis vows that Fancy is the only one for him, proposing to her on April 30. Fancy and Luis eventually discover Pretty's treachery, and after Pretty tries to scar Fancy's face with acid, Sheridan reveals that Pretty's scar has been fake all along. Luis and Fancy quickly realize that the youngest Crane child is mentally unwell, and Pretty is sent to a mental institution. The couple are deeply upset by Pretty's plight, but are also happy to be free of her machinations, and begin planning for their imminent wedding. Fancy and Luis are married on July 23, and Fancy tells Luis that they are expecting a baby in the series finale. It is assumed that Julian becomes head of the Crane Empire with Fancy and her unborn child as heirs presumptive based on Julian's statements in the series finale.
Characterization
When first introduced in May 2005, Fancy is characterized as a vain, spoiledSpoiled brat
A spoiled child is a child that exhibits behavioral problems from overindulgence by his or her parents. Spoiled children may be described as "overindulged", "grandiose", "narcissistic" or "egocentric-regressed"...
, stubborn, self-centered party girl who, as an heiress to a multibillion-dollar empire, is accustomed to getting everything her way; her grandfather tells her that she was born to "enjoy [herself and] have fun". Overall, Fancy lacks seriousness, wearing frivolous, impractical, attention-grabbing (though not overly revealing) clothing and displaying a fun-seeking attitude. Early on, Fancy is often compared to Alistair in that she will do anything to get what she wanted, though, when she hurts others, it is due to a self-centered inability to see the effects that her actions will have on others and not a malicious desire to cause others pain.
Fancy, despite having traveled around the world, is also extremely naïve; after pawning her watch for an undisclosed sum of money, she uses her profits to purchase lottery tickets, not realizing that her chances of winning are so slim. Fancy also has a deep fear of poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, or, at least, what she considers to be poverty after having lived her entire life as one of the super-rich. Fancy's personality traits are not all negative, however; Fancy is also a bit of a free spirit and is fiercely protective of her loved ones — she is willing to give up Noah in order to protect him from Alistair.
Fancy's process of maturation essentially begins when she meets Noah, but she does not really become noticeably more mature and adult until 2006. In February that year, Fancy is involved in an accident in which she nearly loses her right eye. The trauma of that event, coupled with the crippling emotional pain she feels when she is led to believe that Noah, the first man with whom she has been in a serious, mature relationship, has cheated on her with his ex-girlfriend and was only with her because of her fame, forces the formerly self-centered heiress to do a great deal of growing up. A key event in Fancy's process of maturation, however, is when she discovers Alistair's true, villainous nature in Rome in July 2006. Up until that point, Alistair has played a huge role in Fancy's life as a sort of indulgent father figure who encourages her partying and shelters her from any real pain. When he sets lions after her and Luis, the façade of the man that she has known is destroyed, and she finally sees the evil person that the rest of Harmony's citizens have tried to show her. With her "father figure" dead, both physically and metaphorically, Fancy is left with no one to shield her from the real world and is forced to finally enter adulthood at either twenty-five or twenty-six years of age. Shortly thereafter, in August 2006, Fancy joins the Harmony Police Department primarily as a way to be close to her crush, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald. The cadet training program is rigorous and physically taxing, however, and, despite the pain, Fancy discovers a new sense of self-worth
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is a term in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame: some would distinguish how 'the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, the...
; instead of living for and thinking of only herself, she is helping others, something that she finds deeply rewarding after years of being a celebutante.
Another key event occurs in December 2006, when Fancy disobeys Luis's orders and takes part in a sting operation
Sting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
and is brutally attacked and raped. The attack emotionally fractures Fancy, and, for two or three months, she is a shadow of herself, constantly self-conscious and afraid that her attacker will come back and rape her again, which he eventually does a month later. Both the rapes and Luis's subsequent arrest and near-execution for her attacks and the murder of two other people are highly traumatizing events for Fancy, and she loses some of the free-spiritedness that she once possessed as a result.
In later episodes, Fancy has largely shed her vanity and selfishness, though she is still extremely stubborn, and still possesses a bit of the free-spiritedness and love of fun that she did when she was younger; overall, though, Fancy is ashamed or embarrassed by her behavior in her youth. Fancy is deeply compassionate and loving, willing to do anything for her loved ones, and, when not being forced to act against her will, behaves somewhat maternally towards Luis's son, Marty. Though lacking the naïveté she possessed in 2005, Fancy is still very trusting and is eager to believe the best in the people she loves — she refuses to entertain the notion that Esme murdered Fox and quickly and ecstatically forgives Pretty when her sister claims that she wants to be close again; in the latter situation, her trusting nature allows Alistair and Pretty to drug Fancy and implant a mind-control device in her brain.
Mind-control device
When Alistair and/or Pretty activate the mind-control device, Fancy's true personality disappears and is replaced by an extremely out-of-character demeanor that matches no version of Fancy previously seen. At these times, Fancy is entirely at the will of her grandfather or sister and is forced to act as they want her to act; Alistair generally forces Fancy to become belligerent and abusive, whereas Pretty tends to force Fancy to act cruelly, obnoxiously, and somewhat promiscuously.Reception
Following the inception of Fancy's relationship with Luis, fan response to the character became more noticeably divided. While many fans were supportive of Luis and Fancy, or "Lancy", many others remained fans of Luis and Sheridan ("Shuis") and/or Fancy and Noah ("Foah"). According to Emily Harper, "I hear mixed opinions from the fans. Some of them like Lancy and a lot of them like Shuis." During the week of March 30, 2008, NBC's official Passions website hosted a poll entitled "Which Crane should Luis be with?"; of those who responded, approximately 60% answered in favor of Fancy, while about 38% supported Sheridan and 2% preferred Pretty.Fancy was also the center of some controversy when the soap's writers had the character repeatedly sexually assaulted, and twice raped, over a two-month period in 2006–07. Harper said in one interview that "I didn't think it was very smart for Fancy to be left alone in her bedroom where she kept getting raped over and over... prey to be preyed upon. That was a little crazy, in my opinion. One rape was enough... A lot of people wrote in and said that it was getting to be a little too much, too out of control."
Cultural impact
In April 2006, NBC announced that it was launching a clothing line, Crane Couture, in conjunction with a storyline that featured Fancy as the head of the fashion department at Crane Industries. Crane Couture, a collaboration between Delivery Agent, Inc. and Passions, debuted online on April 6, 2006, and was the first clothing line featured on a soap opera that was also available for sale to the public. The collection consisted of women's clothing, which NBC Daytime Vice President Annamarie Kostura said would "give Passions fans a taste of Fancy's life, while adding their own unique style to the look."Crane Couture was featured prominently on Passions; characters often referenced the line, and Fancy wore several of the line's outfits on-air through July while notices on the bottom of the television screen alerted viewers to the Crane Couture website. The Crane Couture advertisements ended when Fancy began pursuing a career in law enforcement, however, and the collection's website is no longer updated.
See also
- Noah BennettNoah BennettNoah Bennett is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions, portrayed by Dylan Fergus from May 13, 2005 to August 7, 2008.-Character's background:...
- Celebutante
- Crane familyCrane familyThe Crane family is a fictional family on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. Seated at 14 Raven Hill Road atop Raven Hill in Harmony, New England, the wealthy Crane family amassed its fortune during the eighteenth century via the slave trade, amongst other things...
- Luis Lopez-FitzgeraldLuis Lopez-FitzgeraldLuis Lopez-Fitzgerald is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions, portrayed from 1999 to 2008 by original cast member Galen Gering. Debuting in the series' premiere episode, Luis is introduced as an honest, hard-working Irish-Mexican police officer who bitterly blames the...
- Esme VanderheusenEsme VanderheusenEsme Vanderheusen is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions. Esme is portrayed by actress Erin Cardillo, who joined the cast in a recurring capacity on November 2005; Cardillo later went on to make appearances in 2006 and 2007 before becoming a contract cast member upon the...